Establishing a telephony session

Abstract

Measures are provided for use in establishing a telephony session between first and second telephony devices in a telephony network. Telephony network equipment in the telephony network receives, from the first telephony device over a signalling link, a telephony session establishment request. The telephony network equipment receives, from the first telephony device over a data link that is separate to the signalling link, a message comprising data useable by the telephony network equipment to identify the second telephony device. The telephony network equipment correlates the received telephony session establishment request and the received message. The telephony network equipment transmits, to the second telephony device, a telephony session establishment request on the basis of the correlating. The first telephony device is associated with a multi-persona user having a first persona associated with a first telephony identifier and a second persona associated with a second telephony identifier.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for use in establishing a telephony session between first and second telephony devices in a telephony network, the first telephony device being associated with a multi-persona user having first and second personas, the method comprising, at telephony network equipment in the telephony network:
 receiving, from the second telephony device, a telephony session establishment request relating to the second persona; 
 transmitting, to the first telephony device over a signalling link, a telephony session establishment request, the telephony session establishment request comprising a first telephony identifier associated with the first persona and a calling party identifier associated with the telephony network equipment; and 
 transmitting, to the first telephony device via a data link that is separate to the signalling link, a message comprising: (i) data useable by the first telephony device to determine that the transmitted telephony session establishment request relates to the second persona; and/or (ii) data useable by the first telephony device to identify the second telephony device, 
 wherein the second persona is associated with a second telephony identifier and wherein the message is transmitted before the telephony session is established. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received telephony session establishment request comprises data useable to identify the second telephony identifier. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the data useable to identify the second telephony identifier comprises the second telephony identifier. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , comprising mapping the second telephony identifier to the first telephony identifier. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data useable by the first telephony device to determine that the transmitted telephony session establishment request relates to the second persona comprises data useable by the first telephony device to identify the second telephony identifier. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the telephony network equipment transmits the message to the first telephony user device in response to the telephony network equipment receiving, via the data link, an originating entity identification request from the first telephony user device, the originating entity identification request relating to the transmitted telephony session establishment request. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , comprising determining whether or not an acceptance message has been received from the first telephony device via the data link, the acceptance message indicating acceptance of the transmitted telephony session establishment request by the multi-persona user. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , comprising causing the telephony session to be established in response to determining that the acceptance message has been received. 
     
     
       9. A method for use in establishing a telephony session between first and second telephony devices in a telephony network, the first telephony device being associated with a multi-persona user having first and second personas, the method comprising, at the first telephony device:
 receiving, from telephony network equipment in the telephony network over a signalling link, a telephony session establishment request comprising a first telephony identifier associated with the first persona and a calling party identifier associated with the telephony network equipment; and 
 receiving, from the telephony network equipment via a data link that is separate to the signalling link, a message comprising: (i) data useable by the first telephony device to determine that the telephony session relates to the second persona; and/or (ii) data useable by the first telephony device to identify the second telephony device, 
 wherein the second persona is associated with a second telephony identifier and wherein the message is received before the telephony session is established. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the data useable by the first telephony device to determine that the received telephony session establishment request relates to the second persona comprises data useable by the first telephony device to identify the second telephony identifier. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 9 , comprising transmitting, to the telephony network equipment, via the data link, an originating entity identification request, the originating entity identification request relating to the received telephony session establishment request. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 9 , comprising transmitting, to the telephony network equipment, via the data link, an acceptance message indicating acceptance of the received telephony session establishment request by the multi-persona user. 
     
     
       13. Apparatus comprising one or more processors and one or more memories, the one or more memories comprising one or more computer programs comprising computer-readable instructions, the one or more processors being configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to perform a method according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
       14. Apparatus comprising one or more processors and one or more memories, the one or more memories comprising one or more computer programs comprising computer-readable instructions, the one or more processors being configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to perform a method according to  claim 10 .